3§4 
Capture  of  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     August,  1909. 
THE  CAPTURE  OF  THE  PHARMACOPOEIA ;  WITH 
SUGGESTIONS  -FOR  ITS  RECAPTURE.* 
By  Henry  Leffmann. 
My  object  in  this  paper  is  to  present  briefly  the  course  of  events 
by  which  the  substantial  control  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia 
has  passed  from  the  physicians  to  the  pharmacists  and  to  suggest 
another  plan  of  revision.  Some  persons  who  have  heard  mention  of 
the  title  of  the  paper  have  inferred  that  I  am  intending  to  criticize 
unfavorably  the  pharmacists,  but  my  disapprovals  are  for  the  doctors 
who  by  the  neglect  of  the  work  of  revision  have  obliged  the  phar- 
macists to  take  it  up. 
The  United  States  Pharmacopoeia  in  its  inception  was  a  purely 
medical  document.  The  data  that  I  present  on  this  point  are  derived 
solely  from  the  book  itself.  The  first  step  towards  a  national  regula- 
tion of  the  quality  of  drugs  was  taken  when  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding,  in 
1817,  presented  before  the  New  York  County  Medical  Society  a  plan 
for  convening  the  principal  medical  institutions  and  societies  in  four 
districts  of  the  country,  arranged  according  to  geographic  conveni- 
ence, which  four  conventions  were  to  send  delegates  to  a  national 
convention  at  Washington.  As  the  history  of  the  movement  has 
often  been  presented  I  need  do  no  more  than  give  a  brief  outline. 
Dr.  Spalding's  suggestion  bore  fruit,  and  on  January  1,  1820,  the 
first  convention  assembled  at  Washington,  D.  C.  The  book  was 
published  in  December  of  that  year,  being  the  only  issue  which 
appeared  in  the  year  of  its  convention.  The  members  of  the  con- 
vention were  few,  and  all  had  the  M.D.  degree.  In  the  discussions 
and  agitation  for  the  calling  of  the  convention,  it  does  not  appear 
that  the  druggists  and  apothecaries  were  regarded  as  parties  to  the 
framing  of  the  book,  though  the  convention  by  resolution  encouraged 
them  to  use  it.  It  was  decided  to  sell  the  copyright  for  ten  years 
and  to  use  this  money  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  convention,  and  if 
a  surplus  remained  to  distribute  it  among  those  medical  organiza- 
tions that  had  sent  delegates.  At  the  first  convention  the  decennial 
revision  system  was  established,  changes  in  the  interval  being  for- 
bidden. It  must  be  noted  that  at  the  time  of  calling  of  this  con- 
vention no  college  of  pharmacy  existed  in  this  country,  the  oldest 
*  Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  County  Medical  Society., 
March  24  (Wednesday). 
